Festivals and Events

Italy’s View Conference Unveils Stellar Program

Published on September 18, 2011

Turin’s leading digital technology confab View Conference (and sister festival ViewFest) have announced the impressive plans for this year’s edition, which takes place Oct. 25-28.

Among the many highlights of this year’s show is the Italian premiere of Disney/Pixar’s much-heralded short, La Luna, which is regarded as one of the leading contenders of this year’s Academy Awards. Director Enrico Casarosa will introduce his short.

This year’s keynote speakers are Sharon Calahan (director of photography on Cars 2), two-time Oscar winning sound designer Randy Thom (Rio), Tom Wujec (Autodesk fellow and author of three books innovation) and Cory Doctorow (contributor to Wired, The Guardian and co-editor of BoingBoing.com).

“We are so pleased and proud to welcome  our keynote speakers,” says conference director Maria Elena Gutierrez. “Sharon is a goddess of light, Randy adds the dimension of sound, Tom is a visionary thinker, and Cory will challenge our thinking  about art and the Internet.”

Calahan will be offering a workshop for aspiring cinematographers titled  “Reflections on Light and Color,” while Thom will discuss the world of sound design. Wujec will lead a workshop on design and innovation titled “Clarity: Using Visual Thinking to Collaborate, Innovate  and Get Things Done,” while Pixar’s Davide Pesare will deliver “RenderMan: Understanding  Shading on SIMD Architectures.”

“We are fortunate that these brilliant professionals are so generous with their time,” Gutierrez  says. “Our attendees have a unique opportunity to study with the best in their fields.”

Also scheduled to appear in the VIEW panels are:

ILM’s Scott Farrar (vfx supervisor of Transformers: The Dark of the Moon)

ILM’s Roger Guyett (vfx supervisor of Cowboys & Aliens)

Sony Pictures Imageworks’ Peter Nofx (vfx supervisor, The Green Lantern)

Double Negative’s Gavin Graham (Captain America: The First Avenger)

Moving Picture Company’s Adriano Rinaldi and Daniele  Bigi (X-Men: First Class)

DreamWorks’ Lucia Modesto (character technical director supervisor, Kung Fu Panda 2)

2011 Computer Animation Festival Chair Joshua Grow

Erminio Pinque, (Rhode Island School of Design)

Daniel Shapiro (Nvidia’s director of automotive design)

Roger Gould (Pixar’s director of Theme Parks Group)

VIEWFest will also provide attendees the opportunity enjoy the new animated feature Fratellini D’Italia (Garibaldi and the Kid Brothers of Italy) with Maria Fares, co-founder of Lanterna Magica in attendance. The 2011 SIGGRAPH Animation Festival which debuted at the summer Vancouver festival is also part of the program.

For more info, visit www.viewconference.it